CalPERS cuts investment forecast by quarter-point
CalPERS is forcing state and local governments to pay more to support the giant pension fund - but will let them ease into it. The fund's governing board Wednesday approved a quarter-point drop in CalPERS' investment forecast, to 7.5 percent. (Sacramento Bee)

Column: Who's to blame in California?
In so-called "March in March" protests, thousands of students in California universities recently demonstrated in outrage over spiraling tuition costs. ... Yet against whom, exactly, are these cash-strapped students demonstrating? After all, their college faculties are unionized, largely liberal and sympathetic to their plight. (Chicago Tribune)

WA: Undermining state pensions is short-sighted
Are you saving for your retirement? If you are working, you are. You put 4.1 percent of your paycheck into Social Security, through the FICA tax. Now consinder if we had no Social Security. (The Herald)

AZ: Making cronyism state's official public policy
How would you react if you heard about a politician who got a longtime government employee fired because he'd promised the guy's job to the nincompoop nephew of a big campaign donor? (Arizona Republic)

LA: Boss Bobby Jindal vs. state workers
Martha Manuel is not the first political appointee to be fired for criticizing a governor's policies. Bobby Jindal is not the first governor to be unpopular with state workers. (Shreveport Times)

FL: Groups consider suits vs. state
Florida's burst of politically charged litigation shows no sign of abating as a variety of groups consider challenging two controversial laws passed by the Legislature last week. (Sarasota Herald Tribune)

US: Billion-Dollar Florida Battle Shows Pension Challenge
A court order forcing Florida to forgo $1 billion it planned to take from state workers to shore up its budget is the latest sign of the difficulty of reducing government-backed retirement benefits. Of 41 U.S. states that made significant pension changes in 2010 and 2011, at least 13 have faced court challenges, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. (Bloomberg Businessweek)

OR: Vote to deauthorize AFSCME union local fails
A protest vote by state workers in an Oregon AFSCME local has ended in a tie, defeating a measure that could have cost the union some dues from non-members, union officials said Wednesday. (Salem Statesman Journal)

OR: Kitzhaber ends state hiring freeze
A three-month hiring freeze of state workers has ended, but Gov. John Kitzhaber and his top administrative officials have instituted a new freeze that is only slightly less restrictive but with a different aim. (Salem Statesman Journal)

Public unions invest heavily in Colorado elections
Public-sector unions, whose members are dependent upon decisions made by elected officials, were the state's top donors to committees that helped put those officials into office in 2010, according to a Denver Post analysis of state campaign data. (Denver Post)

SC House Democrats try to give employees a bonus
House Democrats tried unsuccessfully Wednesday to give South Carolina's public employees a one-time bonus in November, on top of the 2 percent raises called for in the House's budget plan for 2012-13. (The State)

MN: 'Right to work' battle over unions expands in Minnesota
The bitter fight over unions that has swept across the country in the past year is erupting in Minnesota, as legislators begin toiling over a controversial proposal that would alter the nature and diminish the might of organized labor in the state. (Scripps Howard / Independent Mail)

NH: Right-to-work backers gain support again
The New Hampshire House passed a so-called right-to-work bill yesterday for the second year in a row, but support was still well short of overriding a promised veto from Gov. John Lynch. (Concord Monitor)